The Journal

Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Lanz Christian Banes Mold is still visible after nearly a year on this pipe in the basement of the Visual Arts Building, despite Webster's hiring of a company to remove mold.

Wellington Environmental, a company Webster hired summer 2006 to clean up mold in the basement of the art building, found asbestos insulation in the piping that was torn and exposed. Debbie Quargnanti, an office assistant at Wellington, said according to records of the mold work, she doesn't think Webster hired Wellington to take care of the asbestos.


Members of Webster's facilities operations who handled the project could not be reached by press time Feb. 6 to confirm whether the asbestos had been removed.


The Journal ran a story March 2006 about problems with the condition of the Visual Arts Studio. These problems included lack of ventilation in the studios and photo darkroom, lack of lighting in the sculpture studio and rainwater leaking into several studios. Since that time, improvements have been made, but some of the problems are ongoing.


Stone said Webster hired Wellington to clean up the mold during summer 2006. In addition, Stone said Webster had done air sampling of the area and found that none of the mold levels were considered too high. Stone attributed the mold to a water leak from a mechanical unit as well as a broken water line.


The mold on the pipes, however, has not been removed in the last year. Stone said he thought both the walls and pipes had been cleaned up.


"It's something I should have looked at," Stone said, admitting he should have made sure Wellington's work was completed.


Stone then checked his records and said in a second interview that all the work Wellington completed was in the boiler and mechanical rooms in the basement of the art building. He said he is unsure why the pipes are still in their current condition. Any further records for this job are in storage because they are from the last fiscal year, Stone said, but he said he would make sure the job was completed.


"We want to make sure we didn't pay them (Wellington) for work they didn't do," Stone said.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools